This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In general, an automobile is driven by an engine, but it is necessary to supply electric current in order to activate a drive motor for starting the engine, and to operate various types of electrical components, and a storage battery is installed to supply electric current.
Further, to supply electric power from the storage battery, a connecting terminal, which connects a post terminal of the storage battery and a terminal of a power source, is installed on the storage battery. In this case, the connecting terminal is manufactured in various shapes in consideration of a layout according to the arrangement of the storage battery.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a typical connecting terminal for a storage battery includes a fixing plate 120 which is formed in a plate shape and has a fastening hole formed at a center of the fixing plate 120 and having a predetermined size, a fixing member 130 which is vertically mounted to a fastening hole provided at a center of the fixing plate 120, an insertion portion 140 which is provided at one side of the fixing plate 120, and has a circular shape opened at one side thereof, such that a post terminal of a storage battery (not shown) is inserted into the insertion portion 140, and tightening portions 150 which are formed at one side of the insertion portion 140 so as to be symmetrical about the horizontal axis.
The tightening portions 150 have tightening holes at front and rear sides thereof, such that a diameter of the insertion portion 140 may be adjusted by the tightening bolt 151 and the tightening nut 152. In addition, in order to prevent the insertion portion 140 from being excessively deformed, a hollow fixing member may be provided to be interposed between the tightening bolt 151 and the tightening nut 152.
Further, the connecting terminal for a storage battery 100 in the related art may include a terminal 170 in which connection wires (not illustrated), which are connected in series or parallel and allow electric power of the storage battery to be supplied into the automobile, are installed, and a cover 160 for protecting the terminal 170 and the connection wires. The terminal 170 has at one side a fastening hole into which the fixing member 130 is inserted, and a fixing nut 131 is fastened to the fixing member 130 with a washer 132 interposed between the fixing nut 131 and the fixing member 130, such that the terminal 170 is installed on the fixing plate 120.
However, in the case of the connecting terminal for a storage battery in the related art, because the tightening bolt is positioned at a lateral side of the storage battery, there are problems in that operators suffer from the difficulty of performing the fastening operation, and it is difficult to perform the operation because of interference caused by other components in the automobile when tightening tools are used.
In order to solve the problems with interference, connecting terminals for a storage battery have been developed in which a tightening bolt is installed inclinedly or vertically so as to make it easy to perform the operation of fastening the tightening nut by using the tightening tools.
However, in the case of the existing connecting terminal for a storage battery, there are problems in that the post terminal of the storage battery may be deformed or damaged by excessive tightening torque, or tightening force may deteriorate because of a washer slip phenomenon, and force for holding the post terminal may deteriorate because of movement of the tightening bolt and the like.
Meanwhile, as a result of searching document of related art associated with the present disclosure, a number of patent document are retrieved, and some of the documents will be introduced below.
Patent KR10-0821595 B1 discloses a battery terminal coupler for an automobile, in which a part of the body having sufficient rigidity is cut out, and an inclined surface is formed on an outer surface of a joint portion connected with the part of the body, and the joint portion may be fastened by moving vertically a clamp having an inclined surface as an inner surface, such that the battery terminal coupler for an automobile is tightened by a clamp.
Patent KR10-2010-0137921 A discloses a terminal coupler for a vehicle battery using a tightening nut that a joint portion having a cut-out portion extending along a cut-out portion of a body having a post coupling hole is tightened by using an inclined protrusion having a conical shape and a tightening nut having a groove formed in a bottom surface thereof, such that high coupling strength is maintained, and a structure is simple.
Patent KR10-2009-0063007 A discloses a cable terminal for a vehicle battery, in which an upper plate and a lower plate are integrated so that the upper plate and the lower plate cannot be moved, and a shape and a dimension between cut-out portions of the upper plate and the lower plate, which are tightened between the cut-out portions, are uniformly maintained when a fastening bracket is moved downward, thereby generating uniform rotation coupling force.